Mint n Pine
by Blackened Silver
Summary: Rose Weasley has her midnight prefect duties in the dungeons. any guesses who she encounters? some simple fluff. written two years ago so please bear with it. give a try and then give a review. :  Rose/Scorpius One-Shot


**A/N: this is just a one shot I wrote a couple of years back, when i was obsessed with scorpius/rose. :) i hope you like it. though i might warn you its the product of a 13year old mind so it may not be that great. also, it is not beta-ed. i wanted this to be raw. :)**

**Disclaimer: Anything under copyright is not mine.**

Ok Rose, its nothing to worry about, thought Rose Weasley to herself. You are here, simply completing your prefect duties as you do on every Friday night. It's nothing at all. She thought, trying to comfort herself but failing dismally as the next series of thoughts floated into her mind.

How does it matter if you are walking through one of _the _creepiest corridors in the entire castle? It doesn't matter that you are now walking through the corridors which are lined with damp stone which is so very characteristic of the dungeons. It hardly matters that you are going through these dimly lit corridors in the middle of the night, as even if it was broad daylight it couldn't possibly penetrate into these dark ways.

And above all it doesn't matter in the least bit that you are doing this all alone well no, you do have the company of various suits of armour which are obviously hundreds of years old and a few portraits here and there which seem almost the same age, wearing the deep green robes and giving you devious looks.

Who was she kidding? Of course she was terrified. No, she was quite literally petrified. She just became very conscious of the reason the sorting hat had placed her in Ravenclaw unlike all her other cousins and siblings who were placed in Gryffindor. She didn't possess courage of any form whatsoever.

She was just glancing at a portrait of a particularly weary looking old wizard wearing bright emerald robes when a noise made her jump out of her skin. That particular "noise" as she might say had just escaped from a particular blonde's foul mouth.

"Hey Weasley!"

Rose could not mistake that voice or rather that drawl even in a crowd of blabbering people.

"Great! You are just what I needed to make my day better." she said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

But Scorpius Malfoy seemed to ignore the obvious. "Really? That's rather sweet of you Weasley." He said smiling his brilliant smile. Thank goodness he hadn't inherited his lineage's trademark smirk, and even if he had he chose not to display it at most times.

Rose just stared at his answer. Honestly, was he just acting stupid or was he really this dumb?

"Malfoy, I meant that in the opposite direction. I do not want you here. You're just making my already dreadful day worse." She said placing her intentions clearly on a silver platter and serving it to him.

He stared at her for a moment or two before bursting into a fit of laughter. "I like your sense of humour Weasley, it's sarcastic." He said once he controlled his laughter. He fell into a casual trot alongside her as he could hardly suppress the smirk crawling onto his face.

Rose managed to roll her eyes before saying, "What do you think you are doing?" She stopped walking when she realized she had been walking with her arch rival.

Rose Weasley, daughter of Ron Weasley had really taken her father's words to heart.

_Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie_

The only problem being that following those words turned out to be a tad bit difficult than she had expected. Scorpius Malfoy had challenged her in every subject, in every test, in every field like none other. Over the past six years Rose and Scorpius had been neck to neck in everything, whether it was Quidditch as they both played the role of the seeker in their respective houses or potions in which some how they were always paired together. Yes, Scorpius Malfoy was the first and probably the last person to challenge and at the same time annoy Rose like none other.

"What does it look like? I am walking with you." He replied.

Rose took in a deep breath before continuing in a calm approach. "And why would you do a thing like that?''

"Well you seemed like you could use some company." He shrugged. "Plus I was on my way to the Slytherin dorms and I ….." His voice trailed away as he turned to look at her.

"But the more important question seems to be, what on earth are you doing here at this hour?"

Rose had never realized how tall he had grown since she had first met him on the Hogwarts express. Back then he had been almost the same height as she and now he towered over a foot above her. He had developed some brawn over the years of Quidditch practice and now hung his platinum blonde hair in a casual mop, instead of having it slicked back like he did back in first year.

"I, unlike you, have a purpose to these midnight strolls in the dungeons. I was on my prefect duty. Oh Merlin!" she gasped as she looked at her watch which now struck 15 minutes past twelve. "My duty finished fifteen minutes ago. Thanks for wasting my time, Malfoy." She said in a huff turning to leave. She was just about to leave when a warm hand grasped her arm. She turned to glare at the hand's owner.

"I'll come with you." He said seriously.

"Excuse me?"

"Ravenclaw tower is right at the other end of the castle and I am not going to let you go alone, not at this hour."

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself Malfoy." replied Rose, icily.

"I know that very well." Of course he did. He had been on the receiving end most of the time. "But still, let me accompany you. Please?"

Rose could find nothing but sincerity in his stormy grey eyes. She simply nodded to show her approval as they both set off towards the Ravenclaw tower, which was as he said at the other end of the castle.

As they walked past the cold, damp walls of the dungeons Rose felt a shiver run through her frame. The chill in the air was showing what effect it could have. Rose wondered how the Slytherins managed to live down here without being frozen to death.

"Are you cold?" inquired Scorpius. He took her silence as a confirmation to his question and promptly took off his cloak and offered it to her. "Here, take it. You aren't used to the cold down here."

Rose couldn't believe her eyes, even her ears for that matter. Scorpius Malfoy, who had seemed to make it his life's ambition to annoy and torment her, was here offering his cloak to her. What was the world coming to?

He laughed on seeing her incredulous expression. "Come on. It's only a cloak. It won't bite you!"

She nodded before taking is cloak and draping it over her shoulders. Considering it was Malfoy's cloak, she had expected it to be gruesome and disgusting but what she felt took her completely by surprise. The cloak was soft and freshly laundered not to mention quite warm. She was greeted with a scent which seemed to be a subtle combination of mint and pine, this smell she realized was the same as that of the person walking beside her.

"Malfoy? Are you alright?" asked Rose cautiously.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm used to the chill here." He replied coolly.

"That's not what I meant."

Scorpius turned to face her. "Then?"

Rose turned to him, her thoughts confusing her more and more at his sudden courtesy. "You have never been this civil to me. Usually you are quite annoying and rude and in case you haven't noticed we are always at loggerheads." She said looking at him square in the eye with her arms crossed over her front.

"So?"

"_So_?" she cried exasperatedly. "So what's wrong with you now? How come you are being so civil now?"

"You want me to be rude to you?" he said his mouth twitching into a smile.

Rose didn't have an answer to this question; she was so used to fighting with him that this sudden politeness had her taken aback. She felt awkward with his manner of speaking. She was so used to fighting with him that she couldn't imagine any other way of interaction; she realized that was the only way they had ever interacted.

"No…. but-" she hesitated in speaking any further. Instead she adopted another approach. "Malfoy, why do you hate me?"

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?" he replied, his voice incredulous.

"You don't?" she asked equally surprised.

"Of course not." He scoffed. "How did you figure that?"

"Well, you have always fought with me. What else did you expect me do figure." She replied.

"Hey, you always fought back!" he shot back.

They squabbled their way through the dungeons and through many more corridors. This was not much different from their other fights over the past six years. One would expect that over six years of maturing these arguments would have died down. But they had anything but died down, instead of peace, what had grown was the variety of their quarrels and its intensity.

"Stop!" said Rose finally. "We're fighting again.

"Oh." He said as they continued walking in silence again.

"Scorpius, why have you fought with me over all these years?" she mumbled.

"That's how it has always been." He shrugged. "Besides, if we didn't fight you might not even notice me."

Rose glanced at him in surprise. "You have been fighting with me all these years to gain my attention?"

"Hey, don't get ideas." He said quickly, but he now seemed much more uneasy.

"What kind of ideas do you suggest are coming to me?"she said quite delighted on catching him on the wrong foot.

His uneasiness seemed to grow as he loosened his dark green tie. "How would I know? They're you're ideas." He mumbled.

There was something in his demeanour that came across as rather strange to Rose. In the past six years of Hogwarts Scorpius Malfoy had evolved from a shy young boy to quite a lady's man. His appealing charm and a rather dazzling grin paved a way to any girl's heart. Not to mention he was popularly known as one of the most good looking guys in their year. Though Scorpius and Rose were not particularly friends they had come close enough during their consistent fights to know each other pretty well. Because of the aforementioned reasons his sudden nervousness made her more curious to know what was wrong.

She stopped walking and turned to face the restless Scorpius Malfoy.

"Scorpius?" she called him gently. Her addressing him by his first name had surprised him due to which all of a sudden he looked up. A pair of misty grey eyes met a pair of deep blue ones as an instant pull formed between them. None of them had the power to pull away and neither did they seem to want to. The brief period in which their eyes met more emotions, more feelings and more things which could never be put into words were exchanged.

Finally Rose pulled away leaving him rather flustered. They resumed walking as they turned around a bend. Gradually a whole new feeling was enveloping Rose. A queer sensation was arising as if she had just realized she was lacking something vital. Then she swiftly went on to realize that this feeling, this feeling wasn't new it had gnawed on her since the very beginning of the school year, since the beginning of her best friend's relationship with her cousin. Yes, the two closest people to her in her life were together. It came to her that almost everyone in their year had a "special one". It was only her that was all alone. Loneliness didn't do much good to a person, she thought.

"I'm sorry." A voice mumbled next to her.

"Whatever for?"

"For being such an ass around you. I-I really didn't mean to be spiteful or anything. I guess that's the way we were, you know? Fighting and bickering all the time. It was like that since first year and afterwards-" he paused for a bit. "Well- I really didn't know how to act around you. So, sorry." He finished.

She laughed as he finished speaking. It wasn't everyday that you heard a Malfoy apologize "Malfoy, you really don't need to apologize. It's all right. Anyway it wasn't only you, we both fought. And I dare say I enjoyed it to an extent."

A small smile came up his face which froze when he heard the next words.

"You know, if I didn't know better I would have thought all this unease you have is because you like someone." She chuckled.

They were now nearing the Ravenclaw tower. They were almost at the base of the staircase which led to the tower when Scorpius stopped walking.

"It seems you don't know me that well." He said quietly shifting his weight from one leg to another.

"What?"

"You're right I-I do like someone." At this Rose felt a strong pang for some unknown reason.

"Wh-Who?" she said shakily she didn't know why but she was dreading his answer.

Scorpius looked up sharply and once again his grey eyes came in contact with her blue ones. A heavy silence hung in between them. Rose had never really noticed how beautiful or how expressive his eyes were. They seemed to be pleading to her to understand the message they were trying to convey.

He leaned down to her as he barely whispered in her ear. "Rose Weasley."

She felt her body intake a sharp breath. All of a sudden all her loneliness, feeling of lack, all vanished in a moment. Her plain name suddenly didn't seem all that plain anymore. She guessed that it was just the way he said it that made it seem like the most beautiful name in the world. She could feel his breath on the crook of her neck before he placed a chaste kiss on her cheek and said-

"Sweet dreams, _Rose."_

He left her there standing speechless at the foot of the staircase. A rush of emotions flooded her in a short space of time as she watched his retreating back. It varied from confusion to shock, from annoyance to elation. Finally she proceeded back to her common room still clad in Scorpius' cloak with a smile etched on her face. That night Rose Weasley did have very sweet dreams which mainly cast a certain blonde haired boy, who smelled of mint and pine, as the protagonist.

**A/N: I know I know. its not great. but still.. :) do review. :D**


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